British South Africa Company

The British South Africa Company (BSAC) was a publicly-owned British mining company that existed from 1889 to 1965. The company was founded by Cecil Rhodes on 13 July 1889 after the conclusion of a treaty with the Matabele king Lobengula which secured him the mineral rights of Matabeleland and Matabele-dominated Shonaland. The BSAC was loosely modelled on the British East India Company following the government's refusal to become directly involved in the colonization of the area, and the BSAC governed and administered what became Rhodesia from the Matabele surrender on 14 January 1894 until 1923, when it became the colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) with limited self-government under direcdt British authority. In 1890, it also established its authority over Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), over which it had to resign its authority to the British government in 1923. Its mineral rights in Northern Rhodesia lasted until 1964, and it became defunct a year later.